1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to aircraft and, in particular, to doors for aircraft. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for controlling the speed of a door of an aircraft.
2. Background
Mechanical devices are often used to control motion of various structures in an aircraft. These structures may be selected from one of a door, a hatch, a control surface, or other suitable types of structures. For example, mechanical devices may be used to control the speed at which a door to the aircraft opens and closes. This door may be an access door or may serve some other function.
An access door is a door that opens to expose a space in the aircraft. For example, an exterior access door may be opened to expose a bay. Structures stored in the bay may then be accessed by operators. In particular, operators may perform various operations on these structures including maintenance, replacement, recalibration, and other operations.
As an example, an access door is opened to provide maintenance access to refueling equipment on a tanker aircraft. In another example, an access door is opened to expose a bay containing electronic equipment.
These access doors may be opened or closed during ground operation of the aircraft. For instance, the access door may be opened when the aircraft is stationary at a gate.
When opening an access door, forces acting on the door may cause the door to open or close more quickly than desired. These forces may include wind. One or more mechanical devices are used to slow the opening and closing of the access door. Some mechanical devices, however, may take up more space than desired or may not slow the speed of the access door in a desired manner. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that take into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.